Read the book. That may seem obvious, but things happen between one book club meeting and the next. Leave enough time to sit down in a quiet place to devour the book from cover to cover, be it in one evening or by reading a chapter a day. Don't be the book club member who zones out during certain parts of the meeting because she hasn’t read the whole book.
Take notes as you go. Record each of the main characters and her role. Start with the protagonist. Keep a running list of her flaws and character traits. Determine what you believe motivates the heroine and highlight that for your discussion. Discover how each character contributes to how the plot plays out and make a list of your findings.
Develop your impression of the book overall. Figure out the theme of the book or its deeper meaning. Write down how that relates to life in general, your life in particular or even whether you can relate to it in any way. Noting down impressions as you read will help you speak with clarity during your book club meeting.
Write down questions you want to ask. The book you’re reading may be completely outside of your preferred genre, and forming insightful or even basic questions to ask will help you be a good book club participant.
Do some additional research on the author, the time period or the location of the story. Bring printouts of information about any of these fringe topics so you can entertain the group with relevant trivia if there’s a lull in the discussion.